Movie Review

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Movie Review

SHADOW IN THE CLOUDS, WOMEN UNDER PATRIARCHY

January 23 , 2021 . By Christian Tesfaye

Some movies require a specific mood and environment for watching. Sometimes, we want a movie to not be too complicated, but easy to understand, the sort where the story takes the audience on a fun and quirky journey. At the same time, it should not ins...

SOUL, QUITE SOULFUL

January 3 , 2021 . By Christian Tesfaye

Suppose Freud’s theories into the human psyche were more sanitised of his obsession with sexuality and his predictions and understanding were more life-affirming. In that case, it might have resembled the theme of Soul, Pixar’s newest offering. Man...

On the Nolanite Tradition of Time, Reality: Taken Too Far

December 26 , 2020 . By Christian Tesfaye

After months of waiting following its release in the West, Tenet has finally hit theatres here in Ethiopia, showing in malls in at least two locations, at Century Mall and Biresh CinePlus. It is one of the most anticipated movies of the year, even befo...

TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO SEVEN

November 29 , 2020 . By Christian Tesfaye

BORAT: 'VERY NICE' MOVIE AMERICANA

October 31 , 2020 . By Christian Tesfaye

Borat Sagdiyev - the Kazakh who stole our hearts with his unfathomable levels of anti-Semitism, sexism and racism - is back. And as our current state of politics would have it, his experiences are ever more crude and cruel. Some jokes do not even sound fu...

Residue: Spiritual Sequel to Teza

September 19 , 2020 . By Christian Tesfaye

Residue is the spiritual sequel to the acclaimed Teza. The latter is a movie by Ethiopia’s single most acclaimed filmmaker, Haile Gerima, while Residue is the directorial debut of his son, Merawi. Clearly, filmmaking genuis runs in the family, wr...

SWEETNESS IN THE SIDE-STORY

September 6 , 2020 . By Christian Tesfaye

The momentousness of the latter half of the 20th century in Ethiopia is stark in the popular imagination, especially to non-Ethiopians. It was attended by the fall of one of the oldest monarchies in the world, the transition from capitalism, the violent m...

THE OFFICE: DARKLY COMEDIC, LIGHTLY TRAGIC

July 25 , 2020 . By Christian Tesfaye

The advantage that TV shows have over movies is the sheer amount of time at their disposal for character development. And there are few shows that have taken to exploiting this advantage with a sense of zeal that has rarely ever been achieved as has the A...

A Space Odyssey: Lessons on What Makes for an Endlessly Repeatable Movie

July 10 , 2020 . By Christian Tesfaye

There are movies and then there are pieces of art that have defined what cinema is. One of those movies is, inarguably, at least if we go by critic’s best-movies-of-all-time picks, 2001: A Space Odyssey. There are some ways of telling if a movie is t...

Columns

Editorial

Famine: Terrible Hole in Country's Conscience

January 23 , 2021

Usually, millions facing food insecurity in Ethiopia does not make headline news. Not...

How to Counter Rising, Unbridled Nationalism

January 16 , 2021

It was a sunny day on September 12, 1974. A machine gun mounted on top of a tank was...

Not to Undo Abiy Ahmed's Pledge for Credible National Elections

January 9 , 2021

There is something curious about elections that have been conducted in Ethiopia since...

To Millions Suffering, IGAD Continues to be a Disappointment

January 2 , 2021

One by one, Workneh Gebeyehu (PhD), executive secretary of the Intergovernmental Auth...

Sunday With Eden

Kindness' Risk-Reward Ratio

A friend of a friend recently went into a series of difficult spells in his life. First, his wife left for another country, leaving him beh...

January 23 , 2021 . By Eden Sahle

From the US to Ethiopia, the Need for Accountability

We witnessed hitherto unthinkable violence erupting in Washington, DC at Capitol Hill on January 06, 202...

January 16 , 2021 . By Eden Sahle

Life Matters

Communication Breakdown, as Bad for Cooking Videos as Politics

It is not a new term. It is actually a quite common one, especially to those who have the experience of j...

January 23 , 2021 . By Kidist Yidnekachew

Country of Negative Nellys

I was a month postnatal when I discovered a familiar way of communicating in Ethiopia. Many visitors came to see me, as they often do after...

January 16 , 2021 . By Kidist Yidnekachew

Agenda

New Dawn, New Day, Less Pay

January 23 , 2021 . By HAWI DADHI

It was a quiet, bitterly cold morning atop Entoto, the tallest mountain in the capital and namesake of the recently opened Entoto Park. The...

Cement: Construction Industry's Catch-22

January 16 , 2021 . By MAYA MISIKIR

His phone is tightly wrapped up in a plastic bag and tied around his neck. The bag is meant to keep dust...

A Not So Merry Market

January 9 , 2021 . By MAYA MISIKIR

A myriad of loud sounds are competing to be heard over one another in Mercato, the largest open-air market on the continent. Multiple speak...

2020: A Series of Unfortunate Events

January 2 , 2021 . By MAYA MISIKIR

Every year, during the harvest season, a care package of barley grain makes its way from Adwa to Addis Ab...

Gallery

2020 in Posterity

January 5 , 2021

With an election initially expected to be held in 2020, the past year was supposed to be eventful. It did not disappoint. In fact, it outpaced expectations. Much of 2020 was talked about, analysed and debated. And thanks to technology, it was caught...